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commercial and social..." Until 1993 Cyprus had no university yet it had more
graduates per capita than any country other than the US and Canada. But "one is
tempted to propound the hypothesis that the signal failure of this massive investment
in people, this lack of productivity by the island's intellectual and scientific elite,
goes a long way towards accounting for the fortunes and misfortunes of Cyprus
since the 1940's. It is also a most decisive issue when one views the island's
future." 46 It is hoped that above ali, this thesis will attempi to construct an in depth
analysis of the economie effects of the island's recent past, and one that does not
shy away from presenting evidence that may offend politicai orthodoxy on either
side of the UN Buffer Zone.
Earlier analysis and the contribution of new research
It is perhaps appropriate that Cyprus, an economy specialising in the leisure
industry, should have spawned a leisurely analysis of its own economic history. At
least three of the few secondary sources (Wilson 1985 and 1992, and Dodd 1993)
began with holiday interests. Rodney Wilson and Demetrios Christodoulou 47
have
concentrated their recent studies on the Republic of Cyprus, and Dodd's (ed.) is one
of the only English texts available that attempts some analysis of the development of
a Turkish-Cypriot economy. Of the scholars who have considered recent Cypriot
46 ibid., p. 284.
47 Wilson 1992. op. cit., Christodoulou 1992. op. cit.
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